Clash of Heroes: Best Academy Strategy Article

Introduction

I have decided to create this strategy article for the Academy faction (also called Wizards) of Clash of Heroes since I consider them to be rather fun and easy to play. They have various quirks as a whole that may throw off new players, but I'm here to help you out. I hope that you enjoy reading this hub as much as I enjoyed writing it!

So, without further ado, let us begin.

Nadia

One of the two Wizard heroes you'll be able to play as in this game.

Academy Faction Core Units

Like every other faction, the Academy has three Core Units. From best to worst, these are:

Gremlin

Stats:

Attack: 18

Toughness: 3

Charge Timer: 2

Special Ability: Damage is reduced by 2 for each space the Gremlin's attack travels.

At an attack rating of 18 and a Charge Timer of 2, Gremlins are one of the best Core Units in Clash of Heroes. Its special ability means that this Core Unit is a poor candidate for attacking the enemy hero. However, as you will quickly notice, there are no better choices in this faction. The other Core Units are, frankly, worthless.

Iron Golem

Attack: 10

Toughness: 3

Charge Timer: 3

Vastly inferior to Gremlins, the only saving graces of Iron Golems are the possibility of doing more damage to the opposing hero and the fact that, since their Timer is set at 3, you have more time to Fuse Golem Formations to do increased damage.

Apprentice

Attack: 8

Toughness: 2

Charge Timer: 2

Apprentices are one of the worst Core Units of Clash of Heroes. Compare these to Hunters from Sylvan or Archers from Haven to get a general idea of how badly these units pale in comparison.

Section Conclusion

Gremlins are, without a doubt, the best Core Unit to use against any opponent in this game. I always run 3 groups of Gremlins for my battles. If you want to have some Charge Timer variation in your setup, then include a group of Golems. I wouldn't run more than 1 group of non-Gremlins though.

Academy Faction Elite Units

The Academy Faction has two Elite Units. Since both have their pros and their cons, you can use either. In no particular order:

Mage

Attack: 30

Toughness: 6

Charge Timer: 4

Special Ability: The Mage's attack shocks idle units adjacent to the column attacked, killing them instantly.

Note: The shockwave travels from idle unit to idle unit, and can even reach the opposite side of the opponent's battlefield if the conditions are right.

The Mage forces your opponent to prepare against it, either by stacking walls in the column the Mage is going to attack through, by destroying the Mage first, or failing all of that, by moving idle units/charging formations in the column to be attacked. As Elite Units go, the damage and Charge Timer is about average for the Mage. The special ability isn't bad at all though.

Djinn

Attack: 32

Toughness: 6

Charge Timer: 3

Special Ability: Each unit hit by the Djinn's attack is frozen for a few turns, instead of killed. This includes units that the Djinn doesn't have the Attack to defeat (usually charging Champions). Frozen units are much easier to destroy than normal (their effective remaining power is quartered when they are attacked while frozen).

The Djinn boasts superior stats to the Mage with, what could be considered, one of the oddest specials in the whole game. On occasion, you will hate the Djinn for freezing units that could be easily killed. Other times, it'll save your life.

Section Conclusion

I prefer Djinns to Mages personally, but a case could be made for both
of them. Use whichever makes you happy. :)

Academy Faction Champion Units

The Academy Faction has three Champion Units. Unlike some other factions, all three of them have special abilities (quite useful ones, I might add.)

I don't particularly favor one Champion over another, so the following list is in no particular order:

Rakshasa

Attack: 105

Toughness: 21

Charge Timer: 5

Special Ability: Damage dealt to the opposing hero by this unit do not increase his/her Spellpower bar.

An average Champion with an above average special. The power of this unit's special is completely relative to the opposing hero's Spell. Preventing Anwen from shooting a Sniper Shot (to take the most extreme example of how useful this special can be) could mean the difference between life and death. However, stopping Findan from using Swift Strike is barely any help at all.

Special mention goes to the Scimitar, which is an artifact that lowers the Rakshasa's Charge Timer by 1 and increases its damage as well. With the Scimitar, the Rakshasas go from slightly useful to downright deadly. I wholeheartedly recommend using this unit with the Scimitar if you're unsure as to what artifact to use.

Titan

Attack: 110

Toughness: 22

Charge Timer: 6

Special Ability: Enemy wall strength is halved when the Titan attacks.

The Titan is a below-average Champion with a below-average special. Halving enemy wall strength is useless if your opponent does not rely on walls. As can be expected, this special will be of most use against Haven and against certain other strategies (such as against Aidan, who can cast a Spell to destroy his walls to deal fireball damage equal to their current strength). Even so, the long Charge Timer allows you the possibility to fuse Titan formations together, which could lead to a deadly attack.

Phoenix

Attack: 125

Toughness: 25

Charge Timer: 6

Special Ability: (1) The Phoenix's Supernova damages adjacent squares to the two columns attacked. (2) While the Phoenix is charging, you regain 10% of your max HP at the start of your next turn if your HP was dropped to 0. (In essence, you're immortal while a Phoenix is charging).

Phoenixes are the rare unit of the Academy faction. This means that they have a lower than normal chance of appearing with reinforcements. That being said, this could very well be the best Champion the Academy has.

Section Conclusion

The three Champions of this faction each have their own pros and cons (although the Titan has more bad than good). In the end, your strategy will determine what Champions you'll use in your squad setups.

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Academy Faction Heroes

Like every other faction, Academy has 2 heroes, one of which is available at start and the other can be unlocked upon finishing the respective part of the campaign.

Academy Wall Ability: Wall strength = 5. Maximum wall strength is equal to the number of wall pieces in play (capped at 10). Each time a new wall is placed, all walls become stronger. If a wall piece is destroyed and you have less than 10 pieces left, each remaining wall piece is also weakened. This can destroy already weakened walls.

Nadia

Available at the start of the game.

Spell - Lightning Strike: Five lightning bolts land on the opponent's battlefield at random locations. Any unit hit by the attack takes damage. Obviously, idle units are instantly killed.

Lightning Strike, being a randomly hitting Spell, could either be a contender for best Spell of the game, or contender for the worst (if it can't hit any important units or formations). In the Campaign, it also gets special value for the final boss battle, where it can do a LOT of damage (at Level 10) if all five bolts connect (and bosses are large, so the chances are improved.)

Cyrus

Obtained by finishing the game by defeating Lord Bloodcrown.

Spell - Staff of Explosia: Cyrus drops a staff on the first two rows of one of your opponent's columns. Any units, walls and charging formations located there take damage. In addition, if the Staff cannot do enough damage to destroy whatever it lands on, it explodes immediately, doing even more damage. If it is able to land, it gets a Charge Timer of 2, exploding once it ticks down to 0. Your opponent can manipulate the staff as if it were one of his own units, giving him the chance to mitigate the damage you can cause to his units.

Undoubtedly one of the coolest Spells in this game, the Staff of Explosia can be used to wipe out Elite and Core formations and even some Champion formations (depending how long they've been charging up). In addition, against the Necropolis you can score a one-hit kill on the enemy hero via an exploit.

Exploit: Necropolis units leave bones behind when they die, which will form walls at the start of their hero's next turn. If the Staff tries to land on these "not-yet-wall" bones, it cannot land so it keeps moving up. Guess what happens if it reaches the hero's life bar?

Answer: Instant death as most of the explosion effect lands within the life bar (I estimate the potential damage in such a case is well over 150 HP, which is more than a Difficulty 5 AI has for maximum HP.

I prefer Cyrus' Spell, but Lightning Strike can be better at times.

Strategy Notes

As a general note, you're going to want to use 3 groups of Gremlins whoever you're facing.

Djinns are usually a good idea to stall opposing Champions that are charging.

Titans are most effective versus Haven and less effective the weaker your opponent's Walls are.

Rakshasas (with the Scimitar equipped) are the most versatile Champion in Academy.

Phoenixes are most useful for long battles, although Supernova lends itself to be used aggressively.

With their ridiculously high Attack, Gremlins make awesome defenders against enemy formations. Also, they're perfect for Wall destroying (not even a Haven Wall can withstand a Gremlin's attack at full strength).

Against Champions a good tactic is to use Djinns and then finish them off with other attacks.

Against Haven

As mentioned above, Titans are really useful if your opponent tries to use a turtle strategy on you, since his Walls will take additional damage when the Titan attacks (you can destroy his Walls instantly by equipping the Golden Slippers as your artifact).

Do NOT use idle units to defend against Spearmen formations. You'll just lose the units AND take full damage anyway. Use walls or charging formations to do so.

Knights are "what you see is what you get" in terms of their Attack rating. Their special is both good and bad, depending on the circumstance. Have your Gremlins blast them to smithereens.

Priests heal their hero as they charge, but since they do so little damage, you don't necessarily have to deal with them. A few walls should stop their attack nicely.

Against Sylvan

Sylvan gives everyone trouble, thanks to their extremely low Charge Timers as a whole. This is offset by their low Attack, so use Walls and Gremlin formations liberally.

Pixie damage increases the more spellpower the opposing hero has amassed. Rakshasas can be used to attack your opponent and not contribute to Pixie damage. However, once that bar is full and unless Findan/Anwen uses his/her special, it's going to stay full. You don't have Imps to drain it.

Unicorns are overpowered. Not much you can do there. Just try to kill them before they start charging and put up that -15 damage wall. At least they only have a Timer of 2.

Treants can drain your HP each turn if they connect with your Hero's life bar by planting roots. The good news is that, unlike Mortal Wound, the effect can be stopped if you kill the rooted Treant in question.

Deers are nearly impossible to block with walls, so I wouldn't even bother. Use idle units or charging formations against them. Even better, kill them before they can attack. ;)

Against Necropolis

Each idle unit killed leaves bones that will make a 1 HP wall (bones stack to make a stronger wall up to the usual strength cap for Necropolis Walls, as you might have suspected). This is exploitable as mentioned in the previous section if you're using Cyrus.

Wraiths will INSTANTLY kill your hero if they land ONE point of damage on him/her. So, you might want to turtle or attack it with all possible units if you see one charging.

If your opponent uses the Spider Cloak, try to spread out your attacks to destroy the meager 10 HP he/she will have at the start of the battle. Such players usually use Vampires to drain the lost HP back. If he/she drains enough back, you'll probably lose. 2x Attack is a serious bonus. I recommend spamming Gremlins and Djinns.

Equipping the Mana Shield might not be such a bad idea if you're facing Fiona. Her Spell is second only to Sniper Shot in terms of potential raw damage on your hero if she shoots the bolt up an undefended column.

Against Inferno

Sorcerers can mess with your charging formations, big time. If one point of damage gets through to a charging formation, it'll stop it from charging. This is particularly nasty when used on Champions. With the possible exception of Rakshasas, you might want to not use Champions against your opponent if you suspect he/she will use Sorcerers.

Inferno's Champions are woefully underpowered, so you shouldn't be too worried about them. Do block the Pit Fiends if they attack though. Also, attack the Abyssal Lords instead of trying to block them. Blocking their attacks does no good (they do the same damage to your hero that they would've done even if you had both columns filled with units and Walls)

Imps can destroy your spellpower in a hurry if you let them launch Linked/Fusion attacks.

Mirror Match (Academy vs Academy)

Using Titans is probably a bad idea, as Academy walls are weak unless stacked anyway.

On the other hand, Rakshasas are probably a good idea, since allowing your opponent to charge his/her spell isn't such a good idea.

Go Gremlins all the way and rejoice if your opponent doesn't follow this piece of advice.

Against Mages, make sure to keep idle units away from them, especially if one getting hit means that the chain reaction empties out your battlefield. In certain cases, that leaves you wide open to more attacks before you can call reinforcements.

Djinn's freeze can be quite annoying, but since it doesn't kill your units, as long as you don't have most of your columns frozen, it could be more of a favor than a hinderance.

Try to wipe out Phoenixes as they enter the board. Your opponent is immortal while one is charging. Wouldn't want a 100+ damage attack not ending the game would you? :P

In Conclusion

Well, this is about it for this article. I hope that, with the information presented here within, you will now have a better idea on how to play the Academy faction in Clash of Heroes. If you have any doubts or want additional advice, feel free to leave a comment here or send me a message. :)

Comments

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Anon 5 years ago

Or, why not try Mages AND Djinn? Seeing how Mages, if set up right, can reach from left to right across the screen with their effect, just set them up on the same turn as Djinn so Djinn can go one turn ahead, then use the mages to EASILY destroy all the frozen, idle units. =)

Patrick 5 years ago

I have alrwady finished the game. Although I'm not completely agree with some recommendations, I think you must be a really good player. Now I'm trying to play online, but it starts loading and nothing happens. Do I have to configure somenthing first?

Tahnks, and I would be glad to battle you!

Bramaz 6 years ago

This guide was very helpful, it would be great if you could make one for the other factions.

Bbot9000 6 years ago

This was super helpful. please do another one for the other factions. I love this game but I super suck at it.

Danny 6 years ago

Great guide there :) Could you possibly make one for the other factions please?